


A hairy situation

by schrijverr



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Crew as Family, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Hair Braiding, Hurt/Comfort, Jonny d'Ville and Nastya Rasputina are Siblings, Jonny d’Ville Gets A Hug, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Soft Jonny d'Ville, and there is a bar brawl at the start, but it's mostly fluff, jonny has a bit of a mental breakdown where he shaves his head, mentiones of mild corperal punishment, oh yeah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:55:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27655105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schrijverr/pseuds/schrijverr
Summary: People loved Jonnys long hair, but then he shaves it all off during a middle of the night breakdown, after which he has a breakdown about shaving his hair off. The others still love him and his buzzcut.
Relationships: Jonny d'Ville & Everyone
Comments: 17
Kudos: 87





	A hairy situation

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find this on my tumblr, which is @schrijverr as well. Hope you pop in and say hi, cause i'd love to talk to y'all!
> 
> I really saw Jonny with long hair and then a buzzcut and thought: is anyone gonna write H/C for that? And not even wait for an answer

Jonny had allowed his hair to grow out when he’d gotten stuck in a prison on some random planet and had decided to stick around to see what happened. No one died and it was painfully boring, but the hair was nice.

When he had returned to Aurora he had debated on cutting it off, but then Raphaella had wanted to practice braiding on it and that had been nice.

Her fingers brushing through his hair as she hummed slightly and her nails would scrape over his scalp from time to time. It was relaxing and he could allow himself to sag into the touch and close his eyes.

From there on out it had grown.

Tim wanted to try braiding flowers into hair, Nastya found the motion soothing, Ashes liked doing his hair while they gossiped and The Toy Soldier had just been happy to be involved. Better not to talk about its earliest attempts.

So it had become kind of a thing. Jonny liked it, it was fun to sit with his crew mates and talk or watch something together during crew night. And he basked in the attention and soft touches. No matter how much he adored violence, it was nice to feel cared for every once in a while.

Jonny liked having long hair. He thought he was going to keep it for a long while, maybe even a few more centuries, no matter how prone to change he was.

But then they were fighting. It was a normal bar brawl. Tim had instigated it and Jonny had gleefully ran into it to join once it had started.

He was currently in top of a guy bashing in his face with a grin, his bullets having run out a while ago, when the guy suddenly yanked at this hair. He made a startled noise as his body unwillingly followed his head. 

When he had regained his senses once more the roles were reversed and the guy was beating in his face in return until his world went black, hand still in his hair, keeping him down.

When he woke up he was on the Aurora again.

At first he went on about his life, nothing new about getting beaten to death by some random guy. But an uneasy feeling crept over his spine that he couldn't seem to shake. He didn’t mention it to the others, but he replayed the encounter over and over again until it suddenly hit him. 

Carmilla.

She had done many things wrong, no matter her intentions and Jonny suddenly recalled how she would tug on his hair as a tap on the wrist whenever he did something she didn’t like. Whenever he had tried to run away from her, she would just grab his hair and yank him back.

It was late at night, nearly two o’clock on Aurora’s internal cycle and Jonny was alone in his room. The shadows suddenly seemed taller and darker and there were flashes of movement in the corner of his eyes that he knew for certain shouldn’t be there. 

Somewhere deep down he was aware that it was probably his mind playing tricks on him, but that did not soothe the fear that was clutching his throat tightly. 

He needed to make sure she couldn't grab him, that he could get away next time she tried.

And before he was really aware of what he was doing, he found himself standing in front of the mirror in his bathroom with a razor and scissors chopping all his hair off until there was nothing left to hold onto.

The implications of what he had done only hit him when he looked back to his reflection.

He immediately hated himself for scumming to the fear, hated himself for how safe he felt without the hair, without the potential handhold. He hated how she could still control him.

Jonny couldn't have stopped the tears if he’d tried. They rolled over his cheeks as he stood completely motionless in front of the mirror. 

This was the end of the attention. 

They wouldn't care for him anymore, he was useless again for practicing braiding or for soothing and everyone would suddenly stop.

It felt like there was something lodged inside his throat as he realized he would have to face everyone again tomorrow, to see how disappointed they would be, how they would toss him aside when he didn’t have the hair anymore.

Crumbling to the floor he sat there silently and with a blank stare for the rest of the night.

He didn’t show up for breakfast the next day, nor for lunch or dinner. He had managed to crawl into his bed and tug the blanket over his head as he hid, telling Aurora that everyone should leave him the fuck alone.

There were few knocks on his door, but he ignored them. He didn’t want them to see, he didn’t want them to know.

Of course, he knew that it would only get worse if he hid away, so the next evening he showed up for dinner. He could hear them all laughing about something and braced himself before he pushed open the door.

Everyone fell silent as they looked at him. Their eyes felt heavy on him and he swallowed uncomfortably, before he glared determinedly at them and spat: “Not a word.”

If they couldn't say anything about it then they couldn't hate him for doing it, he reasoned as he stomped over to his seat and threw himself into it.

Dinner was silent, but Jonny could see them all glancing at him from time to time as the stabbing with his fork became more and more aggressive. He almost thought he would make it to the end of dinner when Marius carefully said: “I thought you were planning on dyeing your hair light pink.”

“Plans change.” Jonny told him, not looking up.

“That’s fair.” Marius replied with a shrug and Jonny couldn't help, but send him a quick confused glance when nothing else came except: “It suits you.”

With Marius still alive Brian also dared to say: “Yeah, looks good, Jonny.”

Wordlessly Jonny nodded then he ducked his head and quickly shoved the rest of his food into his mouth, before he hurried out of the room.

Over the course of the next few days Jonny showed up sporadically and left the moment anyone said anything about his hair. The crew had learned not to mention it and with that things returned to normal, mostly.

Jonny still couldn't believe he’d done that.

He was avoiding mirrors and had trashed his bathroom angrily when he’d found a hair tie. He knew why his skin felt wrong around him and the whirl of badness hadn’t left him alone, crew night was coming up.

Crew night meant bad movies with too many snacks and just dicking around with each other as they trashtalked planets or brainstormed about albums. It normally ended in a heap of limbs on a pile of pillows, but not before they’d all sat around in a circle, usually someone braiding Jonnys hair.

Jonnys hair that was now gone.

Tears welled up in his eyes again at the thought. He was standing in a hallway, since he’d just been walking as it suddenly hit him again.

He was actually considering skipping the night all together. He did not want to know what it would feel like to be tossed to the side and left out. But no one skipped crew night, it was against the rules and Jonny loved seeing his crew happy.

Even if that might be happy without him. They could be content and braid Tims hair, or Raphs, she had long hair as well as Ashes or Nastya, or they could try and figure out what they could do with the wires on Brains head.

They didn’t need him, he’d always known that, but it didn’t make it any easier. And the tears only became stronger as he imagined how perfectly fine they would be without him.

Jonny was still standing in that hallway with dried tear tracks on his face when the sound of footsteps startled him. Whipping his head around he saw Ashes, who waved at him. Carefully he waved back, but quickly walked off while hiding his face when they got closer.

Two days later and he was hesitating outside of the common area. 

Inside he could hear the other setting up and bustling around. Crew night would soon begin and it was custom to show up early, although Jonny was currently nearly late.

“Do you think he’s gonna show up?” Raphaella asked, getting Jonnys attention back to the sounds.

It was quiet for a moment then Tim answered: “I don’t know, with how he’s been the past week it wouldn't surprise me if he didn’t.”

“But it’s crew night.” Raph exclaimed, “He wouldn't miss crew night, would he?”

“I don’t know.” Ashes replied, “He didn’t really seem in a mood to talk to people ever since he cut his hair.”

“Yeah, he’s really sensitive about that, isn’t he.” Marius said, “Anyone know why?”

“No, I don’t, but if we want him to show up and stay, it would be a good idea to keep your mouth shut, okay. Now’s not the time for your theories.” Ashes told him, slightly threatening.

“I wasn’t going to.” Marius put his hands up defensively, before he pouted, “Just curious why he did it, since he seems to hate it so much.”

“What did I just tell you!” Ashes said angrily.

Not that Jonny really heard them. He swallowed thickly and tried to breathe as he fought of the memories of the reason why. Dropping the bottle he was carrying, he brought the hand up to his hair and felt how short it was as he mentally told himself: See, you can’t grab it, you’re safe. You’re safe.

He was not paying attention to his surroundings anymore, just trying to calm himself down, and did not see eight people turn to the doorway at the sound of a bottle shattering.

They found Jonny looking through them as he failed to grab his hair and tried to breathe normally again. Ashes glared at Marius instantly and said: “What did I fucking tell you, you idiot.”

While they strangled Marius in the background, Brain and Raphaella ran up to Jonny. He blinked once when they got in sight and allowed them to tug him over to a couch and situate him on it while they kept up a constant stream of soft soothing words.

The Toy Soldier cleaned up the broken bottle and by the time it was done Jonny had calmed down significantly.

Once they saw he was back to himself, Raphaella smiled at him and Brian gently said: “Hi there, Jonny. How are you feeling.”

“Oh, uhm, good, fine, great.” he answered. Brian sighed and Jonny swallowed: “Okay, so maybe not all that, but better.”

He still had a hand on his head and was trying to tug on the short strands in vain. Raphaella couldn’t help but observe it and asked: “Is that calming?”

Startling slightly Jonny pulled his hand away and blushed as he mumbled: “I- uh, yeah, kind of.”

“I didn’t tell you to stop, just curious since-”

She got cut of by Ashes who had just murdered Marius and had walked over: “Did none of you fucking listen, I swear to fuck all that I won’t hesitate to kill you too.”

Jonny looked between them and Raph with big eyes, secretly touched that they were murdering for his comfort, before he said: “Don’t do that on my behalf.”

“Why not?” they asked, “They know you don’t wanna talk about it. It’s a dick move.”

Raphaella looked slightly guilty as she said: “They’re right. Uhm, I didn’t mean it.”

“It’s alright.” Jonny quickly said, feeling more and more uncomfortable under the scrutiny as seemingly all the others looked at him. 

He bounced his leg up and down nervously and fiddled with his shirt, then he confessed: “No need to feel bad or something, I don’t hate the hair. Not completely, it’s nice that- that, uhm, that people can’t suddenly, you know.”

The others gave him a curious look, but he didn’t really know why he had said it either. He just wanted them to stop walking on eggshells around him and he didn’t like it how they were treating him with kid gloves. 

“Can I touch it?” Raphaella broke the sudden silence.

“What?” he asked confused about her request.

She bit her lip and bounced a bit, before she explained: “I always wondered what a buzzcut feels like, but Ivy and Ashes refuse to let me feel it, but it looks soft and you’re the most fun person to pet the hair of, so I wanna touch it.”

“Raph, that’s a secret.” Tim whined.

“Yeah, why can’t you keep your mouth shut.” Ashes glared.

More people voiced their complaints about Raphaellas explanation, but none of it made sense and Jonny was just getting more confused. Carefully he asked: “Can someone please explain what’s going on?”

Unable to lie and ever so helpful Brain answered: “Raph wants to pet your head and in order to get your permission she told you about how your the most fun to pet the head of. They,” he indicated some of the others, “have decided that, but it is a secret, so they didn’t want to tell you and now they are mad at Raph, because she did.”

“Why does MJE never keep you from sharing secrets, isn’t that wrong too?” Tim pouted.

“Probably, but helping Jonny added to the pro side of being allowed to do it.” Brian shrugged.

Before the conversation could devolve into philosophy as they tried to figure out what Brian was and wasn’t allowed to do, Jonny asked: “But why is that me?”

“It’s better to show you. Can I pet your hair?” Raphaella jumped on the opportunity to get her way.

“Uhm, yeah sure.” Jonny was not protesting regaining what he had believed he’d lost forever, even if he was confused about it.

She cheered, before sliding a hand over his head. The hairs bent backwards with the movement, kind of like grass. The sensation sent shivers down his spine as he closed his eyes with a little sigh and leaned into the touch.

Raphaella pulled her hand away and he blinked heavily as he opened his eyes.

“See!” she exclaimed, “You go all soft, like an octokitten! It’s adorable. No one else does that. Tim is boring and always complains about tugging, just because he can’t brush his hair properly.”

“I can, you’re just always too rough and mean.”

“Whatever. Nastya doesn’t like people touching her, same goes for Ashes but they’re mean about it and The Toy Soldier is too statue-esque.” Raphaella babbled on, “We thought you didn’t want you hair played with anymore and that was why you cut it off, but if you still want to than that’s great! The buzzcut feels funny and nice!”

It took Jonny a second as he went through all the information. Apparently they did still want to pet his hair even if it wasn’t long anymore, they even liked petting his hair best and the long hair had just been a good excuse. 

He’d been afraid for nothing.

Tears sprung into his eyes again, this time of relief as he sagged, resting his head against Raphaellas hip since she was standing right in front of him. Her hands returned to his hair and soothed him as he took a shaky breath.

“Are you okay?” Brain asked carefully.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Never better.” Jonny told him, not entirely present and still kind of trying to throw off more than a week of stress and worrying that had somehow dissolved suddenly.

“You sure?” Brian check in just to be safe.

Jonny cleared his throat and quickly wiped his eyes dry as he said: “Yes, one hundred percent.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ashes asked with a voice that made it obvious that they would prefer it if he didn’t want to talk about it.

Luckily for them Jonny had the same emotional range, so he answered: “I’d rather not, honestly.”

“Good.” Ashes nodded at him and he nodded back, then they turned to the screen and said: “It was Tims turn to pick a movie and he chose a dumb earth movie.”

“Hey, _Treasure Planet_ is an absolutely amazing movie and I will stand by that!” Tim yelled from where he was putting on the movie.

“That was already dated by the time you were born, why do you even like that crap. It’s not even accurate to real space travel.” Ashes said.

“A good drawing is still a good drawing, okay. And it’s fun, stop complaining, you get to pick next time.” Tim huffed, before he ignored their other complaints.

Jonny was really grateful for them, they both knew he didn’t like the attention in these moments and with conformation that he really didn’t want to talk about it they immediately set to being a distraction. 

The others caught on pretty quickly and soon they were just chilling on the couch watching Tims stupid movie like they would any crew night.

He’d gotten wedged between Tim and Raphaella on the couch that was slightly too small for everyone to fit. He had pulled his knees up to his chest and had rested his chin on them as he watched the movie.

It was about halfway done when he started to feel exhausted. 

The past weeks had been spent in a haze and he barely remembered really resting or taking care of himself. But now, reassured and safe with his crew it crept up on him as his eyes blinked heavier each time and he slowly slid to one side.

He was practically draped over Raphaellas side as he let out a small yawn and began to lose most awareness.

Sure, he could feel his feet lying in Tims lap as he stroked his leg and he could feel Raphaellas hand go through his hair, but he did not connect that to him being draped over them and allowing himself to be vulnerable as he fell asleep. 

All he felt was safety and comfort.

Jonny slept through the rest of the movie like that and missed the second one all together as his deep breaths turned into soft snores. 

After the movies he was carried to bed by Ashes and softly tucked in with a fond eyeroll as he grouched about the movement still very much out of it. They quietly told him: “You’re an idiot, sleep tight.”

“Nhg, tight.” he mumbled in return, before he curled into himself and drifted away.

He stumbled into breakfast the next morning with smudged makeup and a rumpled outfit as he squinted against the light, obviously not pleased with the fact he was awake. Tim grinned brightly as he loudly exclaimed: “And good morning to you, good Sir.”

“Fuck you, Tim.” Jonny told him without much feeling as he slumped into the chair next to him.

“Ahw, you know you love me.” Tim teased as he slung an arm around his shoulder and pulled him to his side, sliding a quick hand over his buzzcut.

Jonny had been planning on protesting, really he had, but, well, Tims side was comfortable and nice, so he just groaned lightly instead as he burrowed his face into Tims chest.

“You really are just like an octokitten.” Tim told him, but he didn’t let him go.

Nastya commented: “Of course he is, I once heard him purr while he was lying close to Auroras heaters.”

“Really?” Raphaella asked, while the others laughed in the background.

“Yes, I hadn’t known him for long, but I was-”

“Nastyaaaa.” Jonny whined, still not really leaving Tims side as he pouted.

Nastya ignored him: “-exploring the ship when I stumbled upon him in her engine room. He had this big pile of pillows and blankets he was lying on, right in front of her furnaces and he purred and thanked Aurora when she sent a blast of heat his way. It’s actually how I met her properly.”

“Are you serious?” Tim stopped petting Jonnys head for a moment and got a disgruntled noise from the First Mate.

“No, she’s lying.” he told him.

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.” 

“No, I’m not.”

“Prove it.” Nastya raised a brow at him and he added: “On second thought, maybe don’t.”

“Prove it, prove it, prove it, prove it.” Tim started chanting, soon followed by the others.

Jonny tried to stop them, but Nastya had already pulled up a screen from Aurora and was furiously typing as all the others moved to watch over her shoulder to see what she was looking up. She grumbled a bit, but then grinned victoriously.

On the screen there was a picture taken by Aurora. In the picture there was a huge blanket/pillow construction with in the middle Jonny and although he was exactly the same as he was now, still untouched by the aging process, they hardly recognized him.

He was just wearing a plain white T-shirt and no belts. He had also switched his normal pants for loose shorts and his makeup was nonexistent. His hair fell around him on the pillow, it would fall just over his ears if it hung downwards.

His face had a peaceful expression on it as he closed his eyes while he was seemingly stretching like a content octokitten.

It was weird, he didn’t look like their Jonny.

Jonny dived over the screen and covered it while he yelled: “Don’t look at that. Where did you even get that, Nastya? You weren’t even aboard back then.”

“Aurora likes taking pictures of her family.” Nastya shrugged, “Not the point, the point is you looking like an octokitten.”

She had pulled the screen back from him and showed it to the others once more, using her height to fight him off and keep the screen out of reach. 

“You really do.” Tim laughed. Jonny pouted at him and he petted his head as he told him: “Not a bad thing,” Jonny just pouted harder.

“Although he wasn’t that much of a touch-y person as he is now when I met him.” Nastya commented.

“That’s because you were an asshole.” Jonny told her.

“I mean, probably, but so were you.” Nastya said.

“You always tugged on my hair.” he pouted.

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

“Did not.”

“You did!” Jonny exclaimed, “Why are you even denying that right now?”

“Okay, so maybe I did.” Nastya huffed while she crossed her arms, “But not long enough to remember. I certainly didn’t keep doing it after, you know.”

She gave him a look and Jonny suddenly realized that she still remembered the memory that had been unlocked again after the man in the bar pulled on his hair. He gave her a nod, before he said: “Oh, yeah, right. I know, you’re right.”

The other mechs, who had been following the exchange like a tennis match, frowned in confusion and Ashes said: “What the fuck did we miss.”

They looked at each other, then back again, before they said: “Nothing.”

“God, I hate it when you two do that, it’s creepy.” Tim exclaimed.

“When did that even stop?” Jonny asked her, he suddenly felt the need to know why she’d done that to him and Nastya, while Ashes seemed oblivious to it. Why it had ruined something nice for him (even if it turned out to be nothing), and Nastya seemed to know.

“I think when I didn’t care about it enough for it to work.” Nastya told him.

“It didn’t?” Jonny asked.

“Yeah, I’m not a sensitive crybaby.” she smirked.

“I’m not a crybaby!” he yelled.

“So you’re saying you’re sensitive?” she told him, victory in her eyes.

“Well, I didn’t- you’re putting words in my mouth!” Jonny accused.

“Okay can we please get an explanation now?” Marius asked, “You two are not clearing anything up and only giving us more questions and I’d like you to stop now.”

They turned to the others sheepishly, like they had forgotten they were there. Nastya turned to Jonny and raised a brow at him. He pulled a thinking face then nodded back at her with a shrug, before he made big eyes at her as he gestured to her.

The others waited in silence while they had that little conversation, then Nastya turned to them and said: “She pulled on hair as disciplinary action when misbehaving. I didn’t really react to it, so she came up with other shit, but Jonny was already here for a long while before I came.”

“I had almost completely forgotten it, but…” Jonny didn’t finish his sentence, he didn’t want to tell them about how something, that he found quite minor and stupid, had given him enough of a breakdown to shave his head almost completely.

Realization dawned on the other faces and Ashes supplemented: “The bar brawl. I shot that guy, bit too late as it turned out, but, you know, thought that counts.”

It was quiet for a moment, while the other also put the pieces together. But before they could say something Jonny said: “Anyway, I still haven’t had breakfast yet,” and walked back to his seat as he made himself a bowl of cereal.

The others quickly caught on to what he was doing, obvious as he was, and sat back down again, only teasing him some more about his outfit with things like: “See you can survive without a belt, Jonny.”

After that they didn’t really mention it again. She was rarely a conversation topic and this was no exception. Instead they just kept petting Jonnys head as his hair grew out again. 

Their little octokitten.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay but Jonny was really still young back then. There is a difference in how you dress between your twenties and your thousandsies. 
> 
> ALSO HAVE Y’ALL EVERY PETTED SOMEONE WITH A BUZZUT?!?!? would recommend, 11/10
> 
> I was really tempted to name this _Jonny the angsty egg_ , but I didn’t, I resisted the temptation. It was very hard, but I did it. Would still be a great title though.
> 
> Comments and Kudos are the best, so thank you so much for leaving any if you did!


End file.
